Cocktail Hour: Fred Astaire [Original recording remastered]

Cocktail Hour (Series), Fred Astaire | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 14, 2000)
• Original Release Date: March 14, 2000
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Columbia River Ent.
• ASIN: B00004RD4X
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,601 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Fine Romance

2. Puttin' on the Ritz

3. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

4. Dearly Beloved

5. Nice Work If You Can Get It

6. They All Laughed

7. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails

8. Cheek to Cheek

9. We're in the Money (The Gold Diggers Song)

10. I Can't Be Bothered Now

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Flying Down to Rio

2. They Can't Take That Away from Me

3. A Foggy Day

4. Isn't This a Lovely Day?

5. Change Partners

6. Night and Day

7. Let's Face the Music and Dance

8. Things Are Looking Up

9. No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)

10. Bojangles of Harlem

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shut Up and Dance, November 4, 2000

By 

"thewritingbuddha" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cocktail Hour: Fred Astaire (Audio CD)

"I'm old fashioned, but I don't mind it. That's how I want to be as long as you agree to stay old fashioned with me", he sings. I agree, Mr. Astaire. As good as music is today, it's always nice to take a trip back in time and hear these songs. From the dreamy "Flying Down to Rio" to the sublime "Cheek to Cheek", this is a regular guy (i.e. this could be you or me singing these songs) breaking out into the music of Porter, Berlin and Gershwin - the Holy Trinity of early American Composers.

I used to watch the old Fred Astaire movies (Gene Kelly, as well) and wish that I'd find myself on a night where the moon was full and the stars were bright and... I'd turn to the girl I love, smile and start singing something like ... "The way your smile just beams. The way you sing off key. The way you haunt my dreams - no, no... they can't take that away from me". I'm sure I'd probably end up falling into the river, but this music makes you dream like that - of breaking out into song, of jumping up onto a table and dancing your way around the room.

It's a tonic. It makes you feel happy to be alive...

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Song-and-Dance Man, October 11, 2000

By 

Formidable Opponent (Santa Clara, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cocktail Hour: Fred Astaire (Audio CD)

Fred Astaire is simply the greatest song-and-dance man the world has ever known. Why? Because he could do both very, very well. Fred is, of course, known primarily as a dancer, and it's unfortunate that not enough is said about his singing. Cocktail Hour: Fred Astaire was the first Astaire CD I ever bought. Immediately, I fell in love with it. It contains many of the songs that we immediately associate with Fred Astaire, such as "Cheek to Cheek," "A Foggy Day," and "Change Partners" -- many songs he introduced in his musical films.

Now, Astaire is not Crosby, nor is he Sinatra, but one thing he has mastered that the other singers haven't is the way he "sold a song." There is such tender persuasiveness as he handles the lyrics some songwriters, such as Gershwin, Berlin, and Kern, wrote especially for him. Astaire sings directly to the listener's heart, another talent which made him the legend he know him as today. In a word, he is simply untouchable.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And he could sing, too, May 28, 2000

By 

R. K. Smith (Texas Hill Country, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cocktail Hour: Fred Astaire (Audio CD)

The 1930s Fred and Ginger movies would not have been the same without those lovely songs that Fred sang. Here they are, from Puttin' on the Ritz to Slap that Bass to Never Gonna Dance. Whether you dance or just like the old songs, this is a thoroughly enjoyable CD.

You might even find yourself dancing....